An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Marcelino Canino Canino Middle School, Dorado, Puerto Rico on 12 Sept. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 17:29 UTC. The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be a telebridge between NA1SS and K6DUE. The contact should be audible over the east coast of the U.S.and adjacent areas. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The contact is expected to be conducted in Spanish.
Marcelino Canino Canino Middle School is located in a rural area in the town of Dorado in the northern coast of Puerto Rico. Our student body is made up of 464 students out of which approximately 78% live under the poverty level. 100% of our students receive Title I services and over 100 (26%) receive special education services. We have 35 teachers and there are usually 3 teaching assistants assigned to the school. For the past seven years I have implemented in the school a Microsatellite Hardware Student Program where students design, construct, build and launch their microsatellites which are them tracked and recovered with the help of my colleagues amateur radio operators. Besides this I have a NASA Explorer School Program since 2005 and other science oriented educational proposals in our school to help motivate our largely underprivileged population to become competitive professionals in the global economy. This coming school year we will share facilities with the local high which is why our schedule is from 7:00 am to noon and then it becomes the high school.
The amateur operators involved in this activity mostly belong to the Puerto Rico DX Club but overall most of the amateur organizations in the island help out when we have this type of activity. This is a team that has experience in field activities and have been helping out since our first ARISS contact in 2002. Overall about thirty operators are involved in different areas of the activity: loaning equipment, planning strategy, setting up the primary and secondary stations, putting up and taking down antenna assembly, working the activity and taking down equipment to return to owners. These upstanding hams think it is an honor to participate in these activities, I think it is an honor to have them helping me out.
Participants will ask as many of the following questions (translated) as time allows:
1. What do you do like to eat aboard the ISS? Do you have a refrigerator to
store your food in?
2. If you could remove part of your daily routine in space, what would it
be?
3. How do you take care of your dirty laundry and what happens to your
trash?
4. How do keep the space station clean, how do the chores get done?
5. How do you go to the bathroom? What do you do with the solid waste?
6. How do you sleep in space?
7. What is work as mission specialist like?
8. How do you know if it is day or night?
9. How do you exercise in space?
10. How do you know are being protected from radiation even though there is
no ozone layer to protect you?
11. How do you bathe in space?
12. What happens if someone in the station gets extremely sick or severely
injured?
13. We know that you work very hard in space. What do you do to relax and
have fun?
14. How do you produce electricity for the Space Station?
15. What happens to you when you return to space and have to get used to
gravity again, what will this process be like?
16. Is there a lot of noise in the Space Station?
Information about the upcoming ARISS contacts can be found at http://www.ariss.org/upcoming.htm#NextContact.
Next planned event(s):
1. Gymnasium Unterrieden, Sindelfingen, Germany, direct via DN1ISS
Thu, 13Sept12 07:15 UTC
2. NASA Goddard Child Development Center, Greenbelt, MD, direct via K6DUE
Thu, 13Sept12 16:43 UTC
3. Burns Sci-Tech Charter School, Oak Hill, FL, direct via KK4KTJ
Thu, 13Sept12 18:21 UTC
4. Zespól Szkól Technicznych w Kole, Kolo, Poland, direct via SP3PGZ
Wed, 19Sept12 07:15 UTC
5. Sunset Hills Elementary, San Diego, CA, direct via KI6LZN
Thu, 20Sept12 17:24 UTC
6. Lafayette Middle School, Lafayette, GA, direct via W4LMS
Fri, 21Sept12 15:03 UTC
ARISS is an international educational outreach program partnering the participating space agencies, NASA, Russian Space Agency, ESA, CNES, JAXA, and CSA, with the AMSAT and IARU organizations from participating countries.
ARISS offers an opportunity for students to experience the excitement of Amateur Radio by talking directly with crewmembers on-board the International Space Station. Teachers, parents and communities see, first hand, how Amateur Radio and crewmembers on ISS can energize youngsters' interest in science, technology, and learning. Further information on the ARISS program is available on the website http://www.ariss.org/ (graciously hosted by the Radio Amateurs of Canada).
Thank you & 73,
David - AA4KN